Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

bowmanblue There's something very comforting for me about watching Christopher Lambert in the nineties sci-fi/action movie 'Fortress.' It's like revisiting an old friend in a comfortable environment. Yes, it's fair to say that anyone who was basically in their early teenage years of watching films would find this film particularly deep and thought provoking (like I did at the time). Now, over twenty years (and several thousand) films later, my cynical and jaded eyes see it for what it is – a load of nonsense (but kind of good fun nonsense if you're in the mood).Sometime in the near future pregnancies are controlled and anyone having a child without government approval (or something) is imprisoned in the most hellish of judicial facilities imaginable. The opening scene shows us Christopher Lambert and his pregnant wife attempting to flee the country, but getting caught in the process. Guess where they end up? The titular 'Fortress' is a prison (tower) buried under the ground in the desert where escape is 'impossible' (yeah, in the same way that 'no one' had ever won 'The Running Man' until Arnie had a go).Once imprisoned, Lambert is subjected to all the usual prison movie tropes, including clichéd cellmates, aggressive bully-type alpha-male prisoners and – of course – the fascist warden in charge, this time played by Kurtwood Smith (or that-baddie-in-Robocop to most of us). Whereas most of the film is pretty run-of-the-mill, Kurtwood does his best to turn in a pretty sinister and menacing performance. Of course there are some pretty big stretches in the plot which are designed to further the story rather than be realistic. These are things like the warden just so happening to fall in love with Lambert's wife (like our hero needed any extra excuses for hating the man in charge of the barbaric facility).The sets are pretty bland. In fact, the sets are sets – pure and simple. Grey walls with people wandering around in orange jumpsuits. The special effects aren't that special and the dialogue is a bit corny here and there. All in all, it's probably not the greatest of films and it's no wonder that it's been pretty much forgotten compared to the classic action films of the decade. And yet, I stand by my original statement. Watching 'Fortress' takes me back to my childhood, so, yes, a lot of my appreciation of this film stems from my nostalgia of the era. It's a simple film from a simpler time.I doubt it would hold up today against the current crop of action movies. It wasn't much more than a 'straight-to-video' affair back in its day, but, like I say, if you're looking for a slightly dated, more simple action movie then this one is worth a watch if you feel like wasting an hour and a half. The deeper meaning I may have once seen has long since been painted over by clichés and cheesy nonsense, but I like that sort of thing.

Mike_Noga It's Red Forman vs. Highlander in a classic Cat and Mouse prison escape film. Seems in the future Humanity done effed too much and now every couple is limited to just one child, even if that child dies at birth. Duncan Macleod's child does just that, and then his wife gets preggers again. When They try and escape to another country they're captured and thrown into the dreaded Fortress, a corporate prison managed by Warden Poe, played by Kurtwood Smith aka Red Forman aka Clarence Bodiker. It's directed by the Re-Animator guy and although low budget and cheesy it's entertaining because of the interesting ideas and creative use of the budget dollars.

Munin75 In a dystopian future, a morally innocent couple is sentenced to decades of imprisonment in a high security nightmare-like prison, and plan to escape. The premise of Fortress is intriguing. It kind of reminds me of the prison scenes of the 1997 film Face/Off, which were incidentally among the better scenes of that film. Unfortunately, Fortress fails to deliver.With this premise, I was expecting an elaborate escape. The kind we got used to with old classics like The Great Escape to modern series like Prison Break, only this time set in a gritty future prison where screenwriters could invent the most terrifyingly inescapable jail imaginable and the cleverest escape plans. Fortress had none of that, since the protagonists just escaped guns blazing. What's up with the yellow and red lines on the floor? I was expecting those to be major plot points... But no. No elaborate plan, no stress, the prison doesn't even seem that bad, and the build up to the escape is practically inexistent. Speaking of build ups, did anyone care for the protagonists? I certainly didn't - that's the second major flaw. I also feel the sub-plot with the wife being coerced was a drawback. I didn't care for that, and wanted a cool escape plan. That's all the film needed! On the other hand, I was entertained for 90 minutes. I wasn't bored because the film is short enough. Had they given the film 30 minutes more and a genuinely clever build up and escape, Fortress could have been much better. Disappointing.

stephen-560-161818 When I first watched this film I found it to be average in the true sense of the word and having watched it again recently I find myself thinking the same.This is the worst thing about it in my opinion, at least a bad movie causes some kind of emotion (even if that is to walk out in disgust), this movie leaves you feeling jaded at the end and unsatisfied but not really angry about it. You don;t really like or really dislike any of the characters and this I don;t blame on the acting, but on the characterisation implicit in the plot In this I'm specifically not mentioning cast by name as I don;t feel the need to name and shame them, the mistakes weren't with the actors for the most part I'm a big fan of sci-fi movies, and don't usually buy into the idea that the old ones are better because in general they really aren't except for the nostalgia increment. However in this case, earlier movies certainly did do this prison story better.That said, its watchable if you have nothing better to do.The story itself centres on a couple who have been sent to prison for breaking population laws. Nothing new here really. As ever the perpetrators are fleeing across the border to Mexico and predictably because its the start of the movie, they don't make it.The lead character Brennan (I think he was called) tries to save the child and his lady by handing himself in and gets sent to the house of horrors, sorry futuristic privately owned prison, where torture is legal. Latter we learn that his lady hasn't got away at all and is instead serving time in the top levels of the prison.The rest of the film is a mishmash of plots seemingly confused as to what its supposed to be portraying. Plenty of gore and violence without any real reason or thought. For instance, there is no way that any prison would ever be allowed to punish someone for dreaming, except in some strange sadistic POW camp (beneath the public radar). The intestrinators equally serve no real purpose except to have the gore of them blowing up and the procedure for fitting them, and the subsequent removal. Thereare far more effective ways of achieving the same level of control if desired.Many potential plot lines are ignored. For instance the showdown between Brennan and Madox, could have been the culmination of decent dialogue and plot development. Instead it is rushed into 2 fight scenes, and the main purposes it seems is to a) Show the lady than Brennan is there b) to allow the sadistic jailer to blow out madox' stomach with a neutron cannon.There are numerous other bad plot lines in the film, or plot lines which simply aren't developed, instead simply paving the way for future plot lines which aren't well developed.That said if you ignore these problems and don't think, the film is indeed fun to watch. However there are better films to spend your time watching, a great many.The shame is that there was the gem of something better, if only Gordon had been able to shrug off the mantle of his previous films and see the gore etc as secondary to a good and well thought out plot line and logically rationalised scifi props.